A hardened heart is taking the easy way out

 

One of the saddest passages in the scriptures tells the story of people who have become so angry and frightened by their “enemy” that they’ve lost a true sense of their humanity.  It sounds so much like today’s world (Mark 3: 1-6).

The story goes that as Jesus entered the synagogue, He noticed a man with a withered hand.  His first impulse was to heal him.  Unfortunately, there were Pharisees in the Synagogue and they were watching Him.  They hoped Jesus would do something that they could condemn.  Jesus knew that if He healed the man, they’d condemn Him for “working” on the Sabbath.  But Jesus refused to let their condemning eye keep Him from responding with compassion and love.

Instead, He challenged them about whether it’s allowed to do something good on the Sabbath.  “But they remained silent.  Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart,” Jesus healed the man’s withered hand.  The man who He healed rejoiced, but the enemies of Jesus continued to plot to have Jesus put to death.

Strangely enough, even while we rejoice at the courage, compassion and power of Jesus, most of us have to admit that we, too, can be intimidated by what others might think or say about our efforts to show compassion and love.  

We can look at suffering and hopelessness by either being compassionate or by hardening our hearts. The more compassionate we are, the more involved we become in trying to respond to these enormous challenges, sometimes one person at a time.  The more we harden our hearts, the less responsibility we take for the pain and suffering that exists around us.

If we harden our hearts, we find it difficult to offer life-giving solutions to those who are in need.  And we’re less likely to get involved in resolving these sufferings.  We seem to be burdened by so many ways to condemn one another.  Often our judgments come out of fear and ignorance.  Anyone who thinks differently than we do, or has a different heritage, or looks different or believes differently is suspect in our judgment.  Especially, if our friends, family or fellow believers share our outlook or beliefs.  Perhaps a good prayer for today be that God will give us the courage and wisdom to live our Christian life with the same generous integrity that we see in Jesus in Mark’s Gospel.

These Scriptures should lead us to ask ourselves; do we make Jesus sad and angry with our attitudes, especially with our attitudes toward those who are suffering greatly and don’t know how to resolve their suffering?  Sometimes, we can take approaches like "tough love" to mask our hardness of heart.  We’re there for the "deserving" poor, but our heart doesn’t ache for those whom we think deserve their lot in life.  And like the Pharisees, we want these solutions done in the proper way.

It’s much more difficult to be Christian these days, not because we’re afraid to say the "right thing" but because our lack of compassion distances us from those who find themselves in need.  We can always come up with laws, norms and regulations to rationalize why we shouldn’t reach out to those in need.  On the other hand, we can become more like Jesus, whose heart is being continually moved with compassion when He encountered great pain and suffering.  To be a Christian today is not just about being able to say the right thing, but to love and heal as Jesus did, to have a loving, compassionate heart.  Let’s all pray for that grace!